KEEP OUT

This week, a Congressional Subcommittee Hearing, chaired by the one and onlyPeter King, on admitting Syrian refugees to the U.S. provided no real solutions. Witnesses took turns proclaiming that we should not admit Syrians to the U.S. because there is not enough American intelligence in Syria to adequately evaluate refugees and their suspected ties to terrorism. But even without perfect on the ground intelligence, we can certainly examine refugees with our extremely rigorous vetting process. The vast, vast majority of Syrian refugees are victims of terrorism, not advocates of it, and U.S. State Department officials have asserted that “anyone who … DHS has any doubts about will not get into the country.” No current government officials—who would have the knowledge and context to speak to these issues substantively—were present as witnesses at the hearing. To the simple question of how many Syrian refugees the U.S. has accepted, the “experts” on the panel sheepishly admitted that they did not know (although they each incorrectly estimated “a few thousand.” The number is actually less than 1,000). The American response to Syrian refugees is a disgrace, especially in the wake of German and Canadian declarations to accept 30,000 and 13,000 Syrians, respectively. Are Germany and Canada now at an extreme risk of terror? As it stands, history will look back at the Syrian crisis and fault America for not doing more.